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on Sunday, November 28th, 2010 at 9:46 am by Radley Balko
and is filed under Police Militarization.
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My back aches. I have had surgery for an inguinal hernia. I am chilled and feel like I am choking when I think of the growing police state in which we live. I want to smoke some weed but I get goosebumps when I think of of being arrested like Willie Nelson.

Maybe evolving to such a level of “civilization” isn’t so great after all.

To say nothing of the larger principles involved in the matter, isn’t Willie Nelson smart/rich/famous/powerful enough to either get his weed in America or have some other way of getting it into the country than simply driving across the border with it?

To say nothing of the larger principles involved in the matter, isn’t Willie Nelson smart/rich/famous/powerful enough to either get his weed in America or have some other way of getting it into the country than simply driving across the border with it?

He wasn’t in Mexico, or crossing the border. He was driving on I10, which is in the US. I10 passes close to the border, though.

The Border Patrol routinely sets up road blocks and stops cars on I10 to look for excuses to search for Drugs / Illegals. It’s a huge cash cow for them.

I can feel the frustration of the guy in the Reddit post. The commenters clearly aren’t aware of how common this is. What a tough battle- having to battle SWAT damage from a bullshit wrong address home invasion that caused TEN THOUSAND(?!!!) dollars worth of damage… I’m guessing the front door was damaged, the carpeting, underwear soiled, bedding damaged, maybe a window, 2 dogs killed, and a computer damaged… that would be about right.

$2,500 bond and he is released? For being caught with 6 ounces? I know of people doing 3-5 years after being caught with less than that.

If it was a mere mortal who was caught with that amount of weed they would probably be looking at a intent to distribute charge (at the very least), would still be in jail and would probably never see their vehicle again.

Willie is a cool guy and this isn’t his first run in over weed. Hopefully something good can come of this.

While you are right to point out that Willie probably could have taken steps to avoid this, the fact is that driving down a road that happens to be near a border shouldn’t subject folks to searches of their person and vehicles.

If a checkpoint needs to be crossed to continue along a road, than the obvious answer is that he went there because he was going where the road was going. That’s still legal, right?

Also, Sure, while it’s true that “Border Patrol” checkpoints are only near borders, I’m pretty sure that busting harmless old guys like Willie Nelson for pot is not why they are there.

Good news, Everyone! There are Agricultural Inspection Stations all over the country! How long before the Drug Warriors start using them to look for people that might have drugs and shit they can take?

BSK reality is what it is. For the last 5 decades the proles have been subject to Terry pats and stops. In 1976 Willie’s checkpoint was determined to be in line with the 4th. So YES, driving anyfuckingwhere means you are subject to whateverthefuck the state wants to do. The least one could do is avoid the checkpoint IN A FUCKING BUS with WEED. Willie was not Willin to be movin.

If that checkpoint is anything like the one on I-5 in California, there’s probably not anything he could have done. The one on I-5 is on what is, in essence, the only highway between San Diego and LA. 99% of the time, when one goes through those checkpoints, you just get waved through. Willie hit the other 1%.

I suspect that most cops are familiar with who Willie Nelson is and the fact that he has been arrested before on weed charges.
Given that fact the cops know he is an easy target. Call it trolling for revenue.

I can think hiccups away, though I don’t know how useful this advice will be.

I have a distinctive hiccupish feeling when I have the hiccups, even between the hiccups. I just remember how it feels to not have the hiccups, and reset myself between hiccups so that I’m not hiccuping any more.

Sierra Blanca’s checkpoint is known as a “functional equivalent of the border”; this is due to its strategic location along the Mexican border just 15 miles from the Rio Grande–which enables the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to search cars for drugs and illegal aliens without warrants or probable cause. Federal Law treats these checkpoints just like the border: all who stop are subject to being searched.